Nearly every time I talk to someone in my district, the first thing they bring up is fraud. They are completely dumbstruck knowing the federal government and US Attorneys say Minnesota has $9 billion in fraud, yet our state government has done nothing to address it. It’s not for lack of trying – Republicans brought up a number of fraud oversight bills last year that went nowhere. We even pointed to the Office of Legislative Auditor (OLA) reports that have been showing red flags for years. But Democrats have not wanted to talk about the failures that have happened on their watch. Instead, they attempt to deflect to federal immigration enforcement, which isn’t even within our power to dictate. Do not let them distract you from the $9 billion in fraud that has occurred under Democrats and the Walz Administration.
Unlike Democrats and the Walz Administration, Senate Republicans are serious about tackling the fraud. We have a whole slate of bills that aim to accomplish 3 goals: stricter oversight, supporting technology to ensure services being billed for are actually being delivered, and improving accountability throughout state government.
The extent of the fraud shows Democrat leadership has been very lax on legislative oversight - $9 billion in taxpayer dollars doesn’t disappear overnight. One of the biggest issues is that we don’t have an independent office overseeing potential areas of fraud. The Senate passed a bill last year to create this office – Office of Inspector General (OIG) – but Democrats killed it in the House. And the Governor had the audacity to co-opt the name, but take the teeth out of the bill. In the original bill, the OIG would be independent and wouldn’t answer to Walz. He didn’t like that, so his current fraud council does report directly to him. It seems ironic that the Governor who has looked the other way on fraud for so long would oversee the council tasked with identifying it…
Democrats also previously passed language that would go into effect in 2027 and would allow the automatic confirmation of commissioners if they aren’t confirmed by the Senate within 60 days after their appointment. We need to reverse this change. It has always been the Senate’s responsibility to confirm commissioners. Taxpayers pay the salary of every person appointed to be a commissioner, and the senate confirmation vote is the ONLY route for taxpayers to hold them accountable. As a side note, Walz appointed Shireen Gandhi on February 23rd of this year. She committed fraud to cover up fraud. She also recently claimed Minnesota doesn’t have any more fraud than any other state, which is an insane claim to make when her department is the one riddled with historic fraud. We must maintain the senate confirmation process.
Another big part of the fraud is that Medicaid is being billed by businesses who are “providing services” to those in need, but those businesses aren’t actually providing those services. We are left with some of our most vulnerable people losing access to the services they need, but these fraudulent businesses still get paid. We need a verification process to ensure services are actually being delivered. This is common sense. It will protect those who are highly in need of specific services, and it will give greater transparency so legitimate businesses can prove they’re doing what they say they are.
We need better accountability within state government. Follow-ups must be required on OLA findings regarding fraud and mismanagement. We should also mandate unannounced in-person visits to every business receiving taxpayer funding through DHS. It’s important for us to empower agency employees to speak out when they see signs of fraud. They should be able to report nefarious actions without fear of retribution that are currently being brought against them. Commonsense measures.
These anti-fraud measures are simple – they shouldn’t even be partisan. Republicans are serious about stopping the fraud and we’re putting our money where our mouth is. Democrats claim to also be serious, but their actions show otherwise. If nothing else gets done this year, we need to pass bills that stop fraud and cut and lower taxes. That needs to be the primary focus and I’m ready to get to work.